The American Association of Retired Persons offers numerous
benefits to its potential members, but these do not begin to
compare with the benefits that come to me as a member of the
Catholic Church, and so I have no interest in joining the AARP,
since serious differences exist between the teachings of the
AARP versus those of the Vatican. These include conflicting
positions with regard to
abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and same-sex
marriage.

The Catholic Church’s teaching concerning abortion, euthanasia,
care for human embryos, and marriage can be found in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church (available online at
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm), and so here my focus
will be on the teachings of the AARP, which are not so well
known.

Abortion and euthanasia

The AARP’s Web site includes an article on Planned Parenthood
that commends perhaps the largest abortion corporation in the
world for providing “abortion services,” “family planning
services,” “reproductive health care,” and “reproductive health
services” (http://healthtools.aarp.org/galecontent/planned-parenthood).
But how could anyone could speak of killing an unborn child as
an act of service or care?

A similar question arises with regard to mercy-killing or
euthanasia, which for the AARP can be a form of “palliative
care.” In The AARP Policy Book, the organization thus
claims, "States should legally recognize physicians' duty to
provide palliative care sufficient to relieve patients' pain,
limited only by patients' informed wishes and the limits of
medical science" (7-101).

So strongly is the AARP committed to a right of assisted suicide
for patients experiencing pain that it rejects a right of
conscience should a healthcare professional understand a
vocation of healing the sick to exclude one of killing the
sick.
In Idaho, AARP was vocal in its opposition to
Senate Bill No. 1353 (https://votesmart.org/billtext/29171.pdf)
that would (as summarized by Life News) “make it so
pro-life health care workers don't have to fear for their jobs
if they decide they don't want to dispense drugs that could be
used to cause abortions or kill patients at the end of their
life.” The bill didn’t outlaw either abortions or any other
action resulting in an end to a patient’s life, but rather
required that employers must provide reasonable accommodation to
any employees who provided advance written notification of any
conscientious objections to such that they might have. For the
AARP’s Idaho lobbyist David Irwin, this evidently was too much,
as he complained, “The deathbed is the wrong place to learn
someone else’s conscience.” (http://www.lifenews.com/state4908.html)

Consistent with its endorsement of Planned Parenthood’s
“abortion services,” The AARP Policy Book (page 7-105)
endorses stem cell research without making any exceptions for
research on a human embryo or fetus:

Policymakers should provide…adequate support for basic science,
stem cell, and genetic research, both to advance research into
preventing and treating serious diseases and conditions
affecting people of all ages and to ensure that the US remains
at the forefront of biomedical research and development.

Advocates on both sides of the debate concerning such research
have understood the AARP’s endorsement as intended to include
experimentation on human embryos. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office
thus listed the AARP among other organizations that supported
embryonic stem cell research (http://www.speaker.gov/legislation?id=0006),
and

Life Decisions International has advocated a boycott of AARP,
saying that it supports embryonic stem cell research.

Same-sex marriage

For the Catholic Church, marriage between a man and a woman is
understood to be utterly unique in the order of creation, and
thus incapable of equation with any other form of relationship.
At the same time, the universal dignity of all people as made in
the divine image provides a foundation in Catholic teaching for
treating all people with respect for their sacred worth.

The AARP does not regard marriage as uniquely between a man and
a woman, but instead joins lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgendered activists in advocacy for their causes, including
when it comes to marriage. The AARP thus sponsored the
formation of a gay rights group for seniors called Senior Action
in a Gay Environment (SAGE) (

For both Catholic individuals and groups, the imperative of the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops should be seen as just as
applicable to the AARP as it would be to Planned Parenthood,
whose “abortion services” the AARP commends:
"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not
honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral
principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms
which would suggest support for their actions" (http://www.nccbuscc.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.shtml).

Given the opposition of the AARP to Catholic social teachings
concerning human life and marriage, Catholic individuals and
groups should not extend even the smallest amount of material
cooperation to the AARP, lest they become an accessory to the
AARP’s actions or suggest support for them. ##

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Still, no one should be under any illusion as to whether or not
the AARP’s teachings might be even close to compatible with
those of the Catholic Church regarding the sanctity of life and
marriage.

Nor am I proposing that Catholic dioceses and parishes withdraw
from participation in the general society, including on issues
of particular concern to retired persons. After all,
alternatives to the AARP exist, including
the American Seniors Association, Generation America, the 60
Plus Association, the Conservative 50 Plus Alliance, and the
Association of Mature American Citizens. None of these groups
advocates any position on its Web site contrary to the sanctity
of life or marriage; indeed, the Conservative 50 Plus Alliance
emphasizes the following theme for its advocacy: “Protect the
sanctity of human life including [through] health care reform
free of any tax-funded abortion.” (http://conservative50plus.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=41#cont)
Moreover, many other groups exist that provide an opportunity
for Catholics to participate in the wider society, including
some like Catholics for the Common Good, Catholic Charities, and
numerous pro-life groups that are fully consistent with a
Catholic social witness, even if their agenda is not related
especially to seniors.

For both Catholic individuals and groups, the imperative of the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops should be seen as just as
applicable to the AARP as it would be to Planned Parenthood,
whose “abortion services” the AARP commends:
"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not
honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral
principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms
which would suggest support for their actions" (http://www.nccbuscc.org/bishops/catholicsinpoliticallife.shtml).

Given the opposition of the AARP to Catholic social teachings
concerning human life and marriage, Catholic individuals and
groups should not extend even the smallest amount of material
cooperation to the AARP, lest they become an accessory to the
AARP’s actions or suggest support for them. ##